Shrewsbury schools to be off limits to out-of-town students

Wednesday

Mar 26, 2014 at 10:06 PMMar 26, 2014 at 10:29 PM

By Marc C. Sanguinetti CORRESPONDENT

SHREWSBURY — The School Committee voted Wednesday night to opt out of inter-district school choice for the 2014-15 school year. The vote effectively ends the school district's current pilot attempt at allowing school choice students in from other districts.

Superintendent Joseph M. Sawyer said that since 1990, the School Committee has only voted once to allow students from other school districts to enroll in Shrewsbury schools.

Mr. Sawyer said the School Committee voted four years ago to allow 20 freshmen to attend Shrewsbury High School through school choice because of declining enrollment at the time. He said that of the 20 original enrollees, 13 students remain and will graduate in the class of 2014. The other seven students moved out of state or changed school districts, he said, their school choice slots intentionally left vacant because of crowded classes.

Mr. Sawyer said allowing school choice enrollment ultimately netted the town $314,000 in state funding over the four-year span without incurring additional costs in staffing or resources.

Despite the success of the school choice pilot, Mr. Sawyer recommended opting out for the coming school year. School Committee members agreed, saying school choice is neither necessary nor appropriate for the district because of large class sizes.

In other business, board members took no action to increase full-day kindergarten tuition rates, transportation fees or athletic fees, effectively keeping rates the same.

Liam Hurley, the district's director of business services, said that in fiscal 2013 tuition revenue brought in $1.17 million and facility rentals, transportation, athletic and activity fees brought in $1.31 million.

Committee members acknowledged the need for revenue because of cuts in state aid and a looming budget gap, but said they cannot keep raising fees on families. "It's a significant burden that we're riding on the backs of parents," School Committee member John R. Samia said. "We've pushed it as far as we can. We can't squeeze any more out of this."

Mr. Samia said that ideally he'd like to see a reduction of all school-related fees in the future.